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Illustrated Catalog of Books mailed free upon request 


BECKLEY-CARDY COMPANY, Publishers , CHICAGO 

















THE CHILDREN’S 
BOOKSHELF 

A Play for Children 


BY 

PATTEN BEARD 



BECKLEY-CARDY COMPANY 
CHICAGO 





•pS t'iS' 

,2-°i 


Copyright, 1925. by 
BECKLEY-CARDY COMPANY 


^C!.D 73880 TMP92-008620 


Printed in the United States of America 


JAN-2'26 


I 


CHARACTERS 


Maggie \ 

Mark >. the children 

Snookie / 

Mother 

Daddy 


Time of Playing: About twenty minutes 



STORY OF THE PLAY 


This playlet is designed expressly to impress children with 
the value of the right kind of reading. A group of children 
are presented by their parents with a bookshelf. They 
bring to it their books and discuss their preferences in 
books. The older children have outgrown some of the books 
that are passed on to the youngest. Approved juveniles are 
listed in the course of the conversation of the children. Men¬ 
tion of Arabian Nights brings up the subject of Aladdin 
and his lamp and the magic carpet, and the children sigh for 
these marvels as well as the treasures and joys they would 
bring. The upshot of it is that daddy dresses up and imper¬ 
sonates the genie of the lamp, and explains among other 
things that the treasures are there in the playroom, likewise 
the magic carpet, all through the bookshelf! The books are 
the treasures and imagination is the magic carpet to trans¬ 
port them to any place they may wish to go. The children 
are so impressed with the idea of treasure troves in the right 
kind of books and the delights conferred by reading them, 
that they resolve to choose their books with greatest care. 

COSTUMES 

Daddy in the later scenes is dressed up like a genie, with 
white drapery over his coat and trousers. He wears on his 
head a white turban. 

.Mother is in everyday house dress. 

Mark, a boy, wears play clothes. 

Maggie, a girl, is in middy dress. 

Snookie, the little sister, wears an apron. 


4 


THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF 


Scene: a children’s playroom. To right, covering an 
entrance, stands a screen. With back to it, upon a table, 
is a small hanging bookshelf. Near it is a large arm- 
chair standing upon a wide rug. 

Discovered: Maggie, placing the bookshelf on the table. 
Mark is bending over a pile of books and sorting them. 
Snookie is seated in the arm-chair with a picture-book. 

Maggie : There now! [Looks about.] Where can we hang 
Mark? 

Mark [ looking about the room]: If it were only a bit taller, 
we needn’t hang it at all. 

Snookie [jumping up and down before it and clapping her 
hands joyfully] : It’s to be my very own bookshelf! 

Maggie : Why, you little goosie ! You have only three books 
or so to your name! It isn’t your bookshelf at all! It 
belongs to Mark and me. Mother gave it to us. 

Snookie : But I want it, too! 

Mark: Well, all right! You can put your books on my 
side of the shelf; but it’s a very small shelf for three peo¬ 
ple ! 

Maggie: If we hang it, she’ll be getting on chairs to reach 
it. We’ll have to keep it on the table. She might fall and 
hurt herself. 

Mark : Well, let it be for now, anyhow. It can stay on the 
table. 

Maggie: It looks well there! [Stands back, looking at the 
bookshelf on the table approvingly.] 

Mark : Now everybody go g*et books to put into it! 


6 


TIIE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF 


Snookie: I don’t know where mine all are! I must see. 
[Finds a picture-book in a corner and runs to put it into 
place.] More! [Hunts about.] 

Mark : Here! 

Maggie: Here are some of mine. 

[The two come bringing books] 

Mark : What have you ? 

Maggie : All the books Aunt and Uncle gave me last Christ¬ 
mas. 

Mark : And my birthday Scout Books. [He arranges his 
books.] 

Maggie: The bookshelf isn’t big enough. 

Mark : I know it. But I ’ll make us each one with my car¬ 
pentry tools. 

Maggie : Oh, I can’t wait! That would be just splendid! 

Mark : Oh, Snookie! More! [As Snookie brings her 

books.] 

Maggie : Mercy! 

Mark : We’ll have to fix them on the table, too. 

Maggie : I ’ll put the ones I like best here. Some I care less 
about than others. 

Mark: Same here! But I like all! There are books you 
outgrow and others you like to reread. Here is Auntie’s 
Midget Series. 1 liked them once. I don’t now. Snookie 
will, though. Have you read them? 

Maggie : I did once, when she gave ’em to me and they were 
new. I like other kinds of books better. I don’t care 
about rereading ’em. 

Snookie [caressing a second book]: I like to read my stories 
over, an’ over, an’ over, an’ over. [She puts the third on 
the shelf.] I got ’em all now! See! 

Maggie [looking at Snookie 's row] : Fine, Snookums! Now, 
maybe some day Mother’ll give you your very own book¬ 
shelf. when you have more books! [Reads.] Mother 


THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF 


7 


Goose, Andersen’s Fairy Tales, and Peterkin Papers — 
A good beginning! 

Mark : I’ve got it, Maggie! We can put into the bookshelf 
only the worth-while books. See! Not any others. The 
sort that we tire of don’t go in at all. We can only put in 
the books that are really good! Books like Snookie’s are 
standard, good books! 

Snookie [ pleased ]: Yes, good, good books! [ Pats the 

covers.'] 

Maggie: Well, of course, we want only good books on our 
bookshelf, but how ’re we going to tell which are the good 
books ? 

Mark : Oh well, we ’ll find out. 

Maggie: Or put in only nice, fresh, new books that look 
well— 

Mark [placing some on the bookshelf beside Snookie’s 
books] : Well, you can’t decide that way. A very poor 
book might have a very fine cover, you know! I’m going 
to put in some that I like best. Look at this, and this. 
[He holds up Treasure Island and The Arabian Nights.] 
I’ve read ’em almost to pieces! And their covers never 
were very good! 

Maggie : Yes, I know! I have some like that. Little Women 
and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and The Wonder fid 
Adventures of Nils, and Sara Crew. [Arranges these 
upon her shelf.] 

Snookie : The reason they come to pieces, I guess, is because 
they’ve been loved so hard. 

Maggie [ instructing Snookie] : But you should be very 
careful of the books you love, of course, you know. You 
don’t mistreat the books you love, Daddy said so! But, 
then, handling books a great deal wears them out. It’s 
bound to. 

Mark : I’m careful, but when I was little I wasn’t—not till 
f realized what books meant. But Snookie is old enough. 


8 


THE CHILDREN'S BOOKSHELF 


Snookie: I’m going to read some of your books. I’m 
’most old ’nough! 

Maggie : If you do, you’ll have to take care of them and not 
leave them about on the floor, Snookums! Because Mother 
wants us to take care of the books. That’s why she gave 
us the bookshelf. 

Mark : And we ’re not going to put any silly books into it, 
because there won’t be any room for them on our book¬ 
shelf, and we don’t want them. 

Maggie : Only the best ones go in! 

Mark : I put Arabian Nights first on my shelf. 

Snookie: My shelf, too. I know the story about Aladdin. 

Maggie: My! But I wish we had a wonderful lamp and 
a treasure. 

Mark : And a magic carpet! 

Snookie : I’d say, ‘ ‘ Genie, go get me lots an ’ lots of awfully 
nice, beautiful good books, with lots of beautiful, nice, 
good pictures, too. An’ he’d bring all, all nice and new 
and my very own bookshelf, too! 

Mark : Oh, I would wish that too. 

Maggie : And I. Wouldn’t it be fun! 

Snookie : We can play it. 

Enter Daddy, right, from back of the screen 

Daddy : Hello! [Picks up a book from the couch.) There! 
I’ve been looking everywhere for that. [ Comes to where 
the children are gathered around the bookshelf.'] Fixing 
up the bookshelf all fine, are you ? 

Mark : Only we wonder how we ’ll get all our books into it. 

Snookie : An’ we don’t know how to choose which are good, 
’cept the ones we like best. So we wished and [laughing] 
we wished a genie’d come an’ help, one like Aladdin’s, to 
bring us only truly good, beautiful books. 

Daddy [laughing] : I see! Shall I call you a genie ? 

Children: Yes! Yes! Oh, yes! 


THE CHILDREN'S BOOKSHELF 


9 


Daddy : Mark better call him. There ought to be a genie 
of the bookshelf, if you only know how to call him! 
Snookie : How ? There isn ’t any lamp to rub ! 

Maggie: Oh look, here’s something! Play this is the lamp. 
[Takes up an old publisher ’s catalog that lies on the floor.] 
See! 

Mark [ taking the catalog]: A book catalog! That’ll do! 
Now then, I stand before the bookshelf and I—I wish a 
wish—and I hope the genie ’ll come! 

Daddy [going away] : That’s it! Wish hard! [Exit.] 
Mark: Wouldn’t it be fun if it really could happen! I 
wonder how long Aladdin had to wait for the genie to 
appear. Didn’t he come at once? 

Maggie: Of course! Genies always come at once! Now 
wish hard! 

Snookie [ clapping her hands]: Come, Genie! Come! 
Maggie : Genie of the Bookshelf ! 

Mark : Of course it’s just play. 

Maggie: Just play. 

Snookie : Play fun. 

Enter Daddy, draped in a white sheet that is worn like a 
genie’s robe of flowing folds. On his head is a turban 
made from a Turkish towel wound about. 

Daddy [bowing low] : Your servant! What would you ? 
Mark : The genie ! 

Snookie: Daddy! 

Daddy : I am your genie. 

Mark: Hush, Snookie ! He isn’t Daddy. He s our genie. 
Maggie : Genie, I want a treasure! Right away, quick! T 
want a treasure, the best you can find. Pearls and rubies 
and emeralds— 

Mark : And a magic carpet, genie! 


10 


THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF 


Daddy [bowing very low, impressively] : Children of the 
Bookshelf, these gifts that you desire are right here in 
your very own playroom! 

Maggie : Oh, no—not really! [Laughing.] 

Daddy [again bowing low, impressively] : Children, the 
treasure is here—and the magic carpet too! 

Mark : Oh, yes, we play it, Daddy! Excuse me, I meant, 
genie! Just for fun— 

Daddy [solemnly ] : Your genie tells the solemn truth. The 
treasure is here and the magic carpet too! 

Maggie [putting her finger on his ring] : Oh! That’s not 
the kind of jewels I want in my treasure. 

Mark [putting his foot on the rug] : And I suppose this is 
the carpet? 

Snookie : Oh ! Oh! 

Daddy : No! The treasure that is greater even than pearls, 
and emeralds, and rubies, and sapphires, and diamonds is 
here, [impressively] and the magic carpet that can trans¬ 
port you whithersoever you may wish to go, that is here 
too, although it is not outwardly such as Aladdin beheld! 

Maggie [seriously] : Really? Where? 

Daddy [goes to the little bookshelf] : Behold your treasure 
that is even greater than Aladdin’s pearls and rubies! 
[Taking from the bookshelf a volume.] Behold the Magic 
Carpet of Imagination, which in a twinkling may carry 
you whithersoever you wish! 

Mark [looking at the genie] : Why, it is so! 

Maggie : Of course! and I never thought of it. 

Snookie : I want to try it! 

Daddy : Let’s all try it and see if it isn’t true. 

Mark : I say we go to Bagdad! 

Enter Mother, right, peeping around the screen 

Mother : I heard you all having such a good time. What 
are you doing? Playing a game? [Laughs at Daddy.] 


THE CHILDREN'S BOOKSHELF 


11 


Snookie : Oh, Mumsie! Daddy s a genie! 

Maggie: The genie of the bookshelf! And we’ve got a 
treasure and a magic carpet! 

Mark : And he’s going to help us select books for our book' 
shelf! 

Snookie: Ah’ we’re goin’ to have the bestest books and 
the loveliest. 

Maggie : And Mother, you ’re to sit right down in the chair 
there and help, too! And you’re to write to all the aunts 
an’ uncles and cousins and tell them we don’t want any 
more silly stories, just things that are standard. And 
oh, we want The Book of Knowledge and Mark wants 
biography and science, and I want to know how to make 
things, to sew and cook, and stories, too, that are ever so 
good—that I’ll want to keep forever and ever! 

Mother : Yes! Yes! 

Mark [showing the catalog ] : Here, see! We’ll go over this 
and select beforehand the books we want and then we’ll 
work for a real library. 

Daddy : The genie says he will help. 

Maggie : Oh, the genie ’ll go and get them for us! 

Mark: We’ll be better off than Aladdin and have two 
genii to help! [He puts his hand in his mother’s and 
looks up at her smiling . She nods.] 

Daddy: Both genii will surely bring you books for the 
bookshelf! The best books will come to you on birthdays 
and Christmas. 

Maggie : And don’t let the uncles and aunties give us any 
more useless books. 

Daddy: Such books only as are real treasures, rubies of 
thought; pearls beyond price of happiness and goodness; 
good and beautiful stories that are evergreen in our mem¬ 
ory like the pure color of emeralds; sparkling happiness 
of hours well spent in reading—diamonds! 

Mother : And such books as are real magic carpets! 


12 


THE CHILDREN'S BOOKSHELF 


Daddy : That is good— 

Mother [laughing] : Splendid! 

Mark : Some books, yon know, I shall always like. Oh, I’m 
sure of it, even when I grow up like Daddy! 

Maggie : Me too! Even when I get to be a lady like Mum- 
sey! 

Mother : Arabian Nights, for instance. 

Maggie : Oh yes! And ever so many more good books. 

Mark : That everybody wants to own. 

Maggie : That everybody loves. 

Snookie : Loves almost to pieces. 

Daddy : You shall have them! 

Mark : Oh, genie! 

Mother : You shall have them! 

Maggie : Oh, isn ’t it lovely! 

Mark : Great! 

Maggie : A treasure, a magic carpet, and two genii! 

Mark: Let’s go right off now on the magic carpet ! [He 
sits on the rug. Maggie leans over the side of the chair and 
Daddy leans on one arm, while Snookie curls at his feet.] 

Daddy : We wish to go to— 

Mark : Bagdad! 

Maggie [taking Arabian Nights to hand him from the book¬ 
shelf] : To Bagdad! To Bagdad ! 

Snookie : Going to Bagdad ! 

Daddy [ opening the book] : To Bagdad then! Upon the 
Magic Carpet of Imagination, in a twinkling it will trans¬ 
port us through the real magic of thought, and we shall 
be living far away, far, far away from here. 

Snookie : Hurry! Start! 

Mother: We’re all ready, genie dear! 

Daddy : I think we’ll have to take other trips together, too, 
—down Alice’s rabbit hole, maybe; to Fableland with 
Aesop; through the Child’s Garden of Verses; into the 
Jungle too; up to the Alps with Heidi; to Dreamland 


THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF 


13 


with Davy and the Goblin; to Crusoe’s Island. But now. 
now we are off to Bagdad! And here we go upon the 
Magic Carpet of our Bookshelf’s thought! Imagination 
is our Magic Carpet, you know! [He opens to the story 
and begins it as the curtain slowly falls,] 















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Musculair Movement Writing Slips... .$044 

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Moody Number Gaines—Moody. Series 1...|0.85 

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6 < 


Illustrated Catalog of Books mailed free upon request. 


BECKLEY-CARDY OOMPANY.Ptt&K*fcer»,CHICA€M) 
































I 












